Palestinian girl shot dead after alleged attack near Jerusalem market

Nov. 23, 2015 11:51 A.M. (Updated: March 23, 2016 9:21 P.M.)

A photo published on Israeli media sites.

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot two Palestinian teenage girls, killing one and wounding the other, after they were allegedly involved in a stabbing attack near a central Jerusalem market on Monday morning, Israeli police said.

Israeli media initially reported that two Israelis were wounded in the alleged attack, although a spokesperson for Hadassah hospital later confirmed that one of those injured was a 70-year-old Palestinian resident of Bethlehem, who had a light stabbing wound in his back.

The other was a 27-year-old Israeli security guard who was shot in the hand by friendly fire.

An Israeli security guard, who had been driving near the Mahane Yehuda market on Jaffa Street, got out of his car when he saw the two girls and quickly shot dead 14-year-old Hadeel Wajih Awwad and severely wounded her cousin, 16-year-old Norhan Awwad.

Video footage showed both girls running at the security officer, apparently waving scissors, before the security guard and another Israeli managed to knock the girls to the ground.

Once on the ground, the security guard ran forward and shot each of them several times.

The video footage did not show the preceding circumstances in which the 70-year-old Palestinian was injured.

Hadeel Awwad died almost immediately, while her cousin was evacuated to Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, where a spokesperson said that she had been taken into the operating room in serious condition, with two bullet wounds in her stomach.

Hadeel came from Qalandiya refugee camp. Her brother, Mahmoud Awwad, reportedly died in 2013, several months after he was shot and injured during clashes with Israeli troops inside the refugee camp.